Dunno if its all that rare - my hubby irreparably (well repairing it would have been more than replacing!) damaged a steel frame. He cracked the head tube at the lug to the front fork. Fortunately he noticed the crack before spectacular failure. He took it to the guys who build Davidsons to see if they could fix it and they said it would be more than it was worth to do the repair. But on a brighter note they did have a better fitting frame that had been built custom many years ago, but never picked up that they sold him cheap, so he ended up with a Davidson at a very nice price.